Deion Sanders is taking the CU Buffs Nebraska rivalry personally
Sep 5, 2023, 11:34 AM | Updated: 11:38 am
Deion Sanders came to campus in Boulder and has embraced many things Colorado Buffaloes, the latest is the school’s hatred toward the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The once Big 12 rivals square off in a non-conference headlining matchup on Saturday’s Big Noon Kickoff. It’s Coach Prime’s first game coaching in Boulder and it comes off one of the biggest upsets in school history as his Buffs knocked off the ranked TCU Horned Frogs as three touchdown underdogs.
With doubt subsided, and a Cornhuskers team that found a way to lose in Week 1, the line on the game has shifted from Nebraska winning by multiple scores to the Buffs being favored. Nonetheless, Nebraska hasn’t beaten Colorado since the two left for their current conferences, despite leading the all-time series 49-20-2.
Rivalries are rivalries, there are some more severe than others,” Sanders said Tuesday. “From every level on up there are rivalries. I like them. I’ve learned the severity of this rivalry and I’ve embraced it 100%. This is personal, that’s the message of the week.”
For a long time, folks around CU athletics weren’t allowed to wear the color red and Sanders has brought that motto back, according to a source. Like Sanders in his first season taking the rivalry seriously Bill McCartney when he was hired in 1982 designated Nebraska as Colorado’s primary rival. It took McCartney four years to beat the Cornhuskers for the first time in 19 years, but his 1986 win in Boulder—the first since 1960—goes down as one of the biggest games in Buffaloes history. It kicked off a run of success that lasted through the 1990s and culminated in 2001’s 62-36 Buffs win to give them the Big 12 north.
“Don’t wear red in the facility. We know the history of it. Colorado, we don’t like Nebraska,” quarterback Shedeur Sanders said. “We’re gonna dictate what they’re going to do.”
It’s one of college football’s best rivalries and it’s now first-year head coaches Sanders and Matt Rhule taking their squads against each other, and the two had beefed a bit this past offseason.
As far as how crazy Boulder will be on Saturday, aside from the prime showing under Coach Prime, and the crazy ticket prices, some celebrities will be there.
“I’m so locked on what we have to do I’m not locked in on who’s coming,” Sanders said. “Although I’ve got some friends coming.”
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